Leila and Liz Willingham, Co-hosts of the 'It Runs In The Family' podcast.
Published: July 14, 2021 | Updated: 15th July 2021
Mother and daughter Liz and Leila Willingham have reached listeners in 21 countries, across five continents, with their new podcast It Runs In The Family.
Launched in February, it’s gone to number 17 in the top family business podcasts and also #77 in the top entrepreneurship podcasts for Great Britain.
Liz, Founder and Managing Director of Sandbanks-based PR and communications agency Liz Lean PR, and her daughter Leila, Business and PR Account Manager at the agency, are experiencing for themselves the delicate world of family business.
Both say they have a thirst for knowledge on the stories, values and traditions of other family and multi-generational businesses.
It Runs In The Family features a different family business in each episode.
Liz and Leila explore the history and share the learnings from their guests’ experiences over the years.
The family businesses come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from breweries and garden centres to drink brands and car dealerships.
Guests have included:
Liz said: “We launched the podcast hoping that it would become a place where listeners can learn from family businesses, either as a family organisation themselves or as individuals interested in this unique way of operating.
“It has been great to see the podcast achieve this not only in the UK but across various countries, including the United States, Canada, Russia and France.
“We even have a handful of listeners tuning in from as far afield as Australia which is incredible,
“We’re thrilled that our global listener base is enjoying the stories as much as we are and look forward to producing even more episodes with some of the biggest and intriguing family brands.
“Curiously, we’ve also reached number 32 in the Estonian charts for entrepreneurship!”
Leila added: “As we know from personal experience, there are real joys and also real challenges when working with family business.
“We have loved hearing the stories of those who have been there and done it.
“From Double Dutch, a highly successful tonic brand established by twin sisters, Raissa and Joyce in 2015, to Balson’s Butchers, the UK’s oldest family business that can be traced back to 1515, we’re covering a lot of business and family ground in this podcast.
“It Runs In The Family has proven to be a treasure trove of family business experience, with companies passed through generations, sibling connections on an almost telepathic level, and an incredible degree of humility from all of our wonderful guests.”
A new episode of It Runs In The Family is released every other Wednesday.
It is available to download and stream on all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
To never miss an episode, or to discuss recording a family business story, click here.
Guests featured to date on the podcast are:
